Dave Norton

David "Dave" Norton (1960-) was an American FBI agent who served in Steve Haines' corrupt division. Norton became a hero for supposedly killing Michael Townley, the most wanted criminal in the USA, during a failed bank robbery in Bismarck, North Dakota in 2004; however, this was part of a deal cut between Townley and the FBI. In 2013, Townley - now using the surname "De Santa" - was entrapped into working for Norton and Haines, who used him to fight against the CIA during a dispute over government funding. Norton cut De Santa loose after the bombing of the FBI's West Coast headquarters, and he took over Haines' show and his division after Haines was murdered that same year.

Deal with Michael Townley
Dave Norton joined the FBI during his twenties, and he became an experienced agent in the government agency. In 2004, Norton cut a deal with the wanted criminal Michael Townley in which Townley would give information on fellow criminals to the FBI in exchange for the FBI allowing for him to change his name and move to a Beverly Hills mansion. Norton and Townley arranged for the FBI to ambush Townley's heist crew after a bank robbery in Bismarck, North Dakota that same year, and Norton accidentally killed Brad Snider instead of Trevor Philips, leaving Philips alive. Philips escaped, believing that Townley had been killed by a feigned shot from Norton, and that Snider was in prison (in reality, Snider was buried in Townley's place). Townley took on the new identity of "Michael De Santa" and moved to Los Angeles, and Norton was hailed as a hero for killing "the most wanted man in America".

Bureau troubles
Norton had an unremarkable career over the next ten years, and he later divorced his wife. Townley moved into his mansion under the assumed name "De Santa", and his entire family changed their names as well. Philips' survival caused trouble for both De Santa (who had to worry about staying away from his former friend) and Norton (who assumed Snider's personality and wrote letters to Philips "from prison" to calm him and track him).

In 2013, however, Norton was forced to confront De Santa after he pulled off a jewelry store robbery in Beverly Hills, as it was likely that the robbery could attract Philips' attention. Sure enough, Philips discovered De Santa, creating a chaotic situation. In the meantime, Norton's boss, the television prima donna Steve Haines, looked through Norton's old case files and discovered his interactions with De Santa and Philips, and he decided to blackmail him into using them for acts of violence against the rival CIA during a funding dispute. The FBI prevented the CIA from interrogating Ferdinand Kerimov by having the criminals rescue him from the CIA headquarters, assassinated the suspected terrorist Tahir Javan, robbed an armored car, performed a heist in Paleto Bay (stealing dirty money from the police), stole a nerve agent from a CIA lab, and blew up the toop floors of the FBI headquarters after deleting all of the files on Steve Haines and themselves. The criminals were promised their freedom after the FBI job, but Philips and De Santa's actions against Merryweather complicated things. Haines attempted to arrest Norton and De Santa as they met at the Getty Center, but this led to a shootout between Norton/De Santa, the FBI, the CIA, and Merryweather, and Norton and De Santa shot their way out of the fight with the help of Trevor Philips.

Afterwards, Norton persuaded Haines to spare Michael De Santa and his protege Franklin Clinton, and he told Clinton that he had to kill Philips to tie up loose ends. However, the three criminals instead conspired to kill all of those who had crossed them, and Haines was shot by Philips on the Ferris Wheel at the Santa Monica Pier. Norton took over Haines' show The Underbelly of Paradise and had a better work experience now that he was free of Haines, and Norton parted with De Santa on good terms, while he told Philips that he had written Brad's emails to him, and warned him to stay out of trouble and to never contact him again.